Water returning



(No Model.)

W. BURNHAM.

WATER RETURNING APPLIANCE FOR STEAM GENERATORS. N0. 894,880.v Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

62 is: I 51-21 1 N. PETERS PhowLnhu n her. Washington. D c.

\VAL'IER BIIRNHAM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

WATER-RETURNING APPLIANCE FOR STEAM- GENEfiAToRs.

SPECIFICATION forr ing part of Letters Patent No. 394,830, dated December 18, 1888. Application filed February 21, 1888. Serial No. 264,814. (No model.)

To all whom it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, IVALTER BURNHAM, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vater- Returning Appliances for Steam-Generators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to means for mainraining a movement of steam through a return-pipe or water-lifting pipe connected at its receiving end with a steam-pipe and provided at its delivery end with a water-column or other obstruction which permits outflow of water therefrom.

The immediate object of the invention is to automatically control the relative pressure in the low-pressure space of the return-pipe, whereby the steam-How is induced.

The invention is here diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 1 in connection with a steam-generator and steun-pipe leadin therefrom to a point below the.water-level of the generator, where it is connected with a separator and a return-pipe leading from the separator upward to a point above the generator, and thence descending into the water-space of the generator. The vertical distance of such descent is sufficient to accommodate in the descending leg of the pipe a water-column of height due to the difference in pressure between the generator and the low-pressure space in the pipe above the water-column, the reduction of pressure in which space it is the purpose of this invention to m ore perfectly regulate and more reliably maintain. This arrangement of generator, steam-pipe, separator, and return-pipe is generally that which is shown in an application for patent filed by \Villiam Irving, of Chicago, on February 7, 1888, Serial No. 263,225, and the operation of which, as set' forth by him, is to give a steamflow through the return-pipe from its connection with the steam pipe or separator to the upper part of the descending leg of said return-pipe, by which steam-flow water in detached masses is swept from the steam pipe or separator into the descending leg of the return-pipe, whence it falls into the generator.

The action of this circuit, as above set forth, is the result of a lowe r pressure in the upper part of the descending leg of the return-pipe than that which subsists in the steam-pipe at its connection with the return-pipe. It is the purpose of this invention to automatically and certainly insure a difference between the pressure in said low-pressure chamber and that in the steampipe, in order that a flow of steam may be maintained through the return-pipe possessing a degree of force adequate to the performance ot all the work which said returnpipe may be under the circumstances called upon to perform.

To this end the invention consists, primarily, in providing the low-pressure space or chamber of the return pipe or system with an automatically-regulated escape, and, secondarily, in the combination, with the return-pipe or low-pressure chamber of the circuit, of a regulated escape mechanism adapted to insure a prescribed reduction of pressure.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more full statement of the invention, Figure 1 is a transverse section of a steam-generator and a diagrammatic view of two pipecircuits connected therewith and containing the invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of one of the automatic escape-valves seen in Fig. 1.

A represents a gcmrrator; B, a steam-pipe leading therefrom.

C is a separator connected in the steampipe, and D is a return-pipe taking steam and water from the separator C and delivering water into the generator A through a descending terminal leg, D, which contains a watercolumn of such height above the water-line of the generator as is due to the dit'terence be tween the pressure in the generator and that in the returnspipe D above said water column. Above the water column on the leg of the return-pipe D is a space of lower pressure than any other part of the circuit, because most re mote from the source from which steam is supplied. thereto, and therefore subject to less temperature than other parts of the circuit. Said Irving has already provided for establishing a lower pressure in such portion of the return-pipe than would be attained by more radiation or condensation by means of a valved escape-pipe, (Z, such escape being subject to control byhand alone. The object of the valved escape-pipe (Z is to afiord a bodily outlet for steam or steam and water from the return-pipe l), and thus to promote 5 a more active flow of steam from the steampipe B toward this point oi escape or low pressure.

For the attainment of my purpose I provide an escape-passage leading from the low-pressurc chamber of the return-pipe, which is subject to automatic control. Two forms of such device are shown having certain general characteristics in common, and one having special features of construction and operat ion which give it certain advantages over the other for particular situations and eireumstances. ()ne of these devices, E, is an ordinary safetyvalve weighted or adjusted to yield and permit an outflow of steam when subject to a given interior pressure. Applied to the lowpressurechamber or space of a return-pipe, as shown, such a valve insures that a pressure in said low-pressure chamber shall not exceed a given degree to which the safetyvalve is set to discharge. This form of regulated escape for said low-pressure chamber will be useful to those systems in which the generator and steam-pipe are subject to a 1111it'orm or practically uniformpressure, and the difference between the pressure of the generator or the pressure of the steam-pipe at its junction with the retur11-pipo and that of the low-pressure chamber in the return-pipe will in such a case be sufficiently regulated for all p 'actical purposes by adjusting the safe valve to open at a prescribed degree less than that of the generator and the steam-pipe.

i is an escape-valve of peculiar construction. (Seen in side view in Fig. 1 and illustrated in detail by the enlarged 'ertical central section of Fig. As will be seen by this figure, the shell of the valve 1? is provided with two chambers, the former of which is connected by the pipe (1' with the low-pressure chamber of the return-pipe D. The chambers f f communicate with each other through two openings, f f' one above the other, after the manner of other wells known valves of the balanced order. The valves F P, which fit the ports f, are connected 011 a stem, F, which passes through the cap f and supports the weight-arm F. Below the cap f the bulb or shell of the valve is provided with a neck, F, having an interior cylindric passage, to which is fitted a disk or piston, F secured to the valve-stem F. The passage for the valve-stem through the cap of the valve-shell is sufficiently tree to allow air to enter and any steam to escape into the atmosphere which shall pass the pi ton F. The outer cha111l'1er, f, of the bulb or case is provided with a dischargeoritice, f, provided with a valve, f.

In the operation of this device, when the pressure in the lowpressure chamber of the return-pipe is below the degree desired, the valve stem F with its valves F and 1 and piston F, will be depressed,giving an outflow of steam through the passages f f" into the chamber 11". '\\'hen the pressure in this chamber f reaches a prescribed degree, (as, for example, two pounds,) the steam in this outer chamber, acting on the piston F, raises the valves F I, cuttin oflf turther outflow of steam until the pressure inf shall have been reduced by escape through the ori ice/ below the prescribed degree, when the valves l1" F are again opened and give a further outflow of steam from the low-pressure cham' ber. The cock f may be turned to give any desired capacity to the orifice f and the valves I in eltfect limit the pressure of steam in the chambcrf, from which the oriflee is the escape. There is alwaysthus an escape of steam from the low-pressure chan1- ber of the return-pipe D, to which the valve F is attached, equal to what will flow through an ori lice, f", under a pmctically fixed pressure of two pounds. The escape is therefore substantially uniform, and there will be, consequently, a practically constant reduction of the pressure in the low'pressure chamber of the return-pipe from or below that in the steam pipe or generator. Under these circumstances the water-lifting force of the returnpipe will be practically uniform without respect to variations of pressure in the steampipe and generator, provided only that such. pressure in the steam pipe or separatorbe high enough to raise the piston F against the weight on the arm F A flexible diaphragm may obviously be substituted for the piston F.

It is to be understood that the pipe I), herein generally called the return-pipe, may deliver into any other receptacle than a generator, and may be provided with a water column other than one forming part of the same body 0 [1' waterwith that in the gmlerator or rcceptat'ile, and that, in fact, it 111ay be provided with any other suitable form of obstruction adapted. to give passage to water in place of a water column.

In other applications for patent tiled by me of even date herewith I have fully shown and described. other constructions for a water column which may be substituted in place of the direct connection of the return-pipe with. the water-space of the generator herein, illustrated, an d also constructions by which a suitable obstruction is provided in the pipe l) in place of the water column,

I claim my invention 1. The combinatimi, with a generator, a steam-pipe leading therefrom, and a pipe talcing both steam and water from the steampipe, and having an obstruction at its opposite end adapted to give outflow of water, of an automatic escape-valve giving discharge from the low-pressure chamber of said obstructed pipe, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a generator, a steam -pipe leadin therefrom, a separator connected with the steam-pi1'1e,and a pipe tale ing both steam and water from the separator,

terminating in the generator and containing a water column at its delivering end, of an automatic escape-valve giving steam-discharge from the low-pressure space of said last-mentioned pipe, substantially as described.

The combination, with the pipe D of a pipe system of the general character described, of a double-chambered escape-valve, F, having one of its chambers connected with the low-pressure space in the pipe D and the other chamber provided with a valved outlet, and also having a valved passage leading from one chamber to the other and controlled by the pressure in the chamber having the valved outlet, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the pipe D, of a valve, F, provided with chambers ff, connected by passages f f a valved orifice, f leading from the chamber f a weighted rod provided with valves F and F fitted to the passages f f and a piston or disk, F exposed on one side to pressure in the chamber f and on the other side to the atmosphere.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VAT/FER BURNI-IAM.

Vitnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, TAYLOR E. BROWN. 

